Tomorrow - Father's Day - will mark 23 years to the day since my father died. The past several years, Father's Day has been a downer for me. My wife and children have been kind, generous, and understanding. I appreciate it. But I have missed my dad around this time. I also think that being on the other side of the country, disconnected from my roots in Los Angeles, has exasperated my feelings of sadness. This year is different. I approach this coming Father's Day with gratitude, rather than grief. The Lord blessed me to have a great dad. I...

Eternal and almighty God, who by thy providence dost conduct and govern all creatures in this world, suffer us not to enterprise anything but what is agreeable to thy will and pleasure, that we, altogether discontented with ourselves, may wholly depend upon thy blessing; and that our only care may be that thou mayest be glorified in us and our posterity, through Jesus Christ, thy Son. Amen. - Prayers on the Psalms: From the Scottish Psalter of 1595, p. 131

It is my funeral. My family and friends have gathered to pay their final respects. Songs of praise have been lifted. Scripture has been read and prayers have been offered. Now it is time for remarks. My children go to the microphone. They are going to talk about their father. What will they say? My goal is to live my life in such a way that when my children speak of me, after I am dead and gone, they will be able to say at least three things about me. I know my father loved God unconditionally. Many obituaries state...

“Help me to speak your word with faithfulness, clarity, authority, passion, wisdom, humility, and liberty…” These are words I often pray publicly, as I lead the congregation in prayer before I read my text and begin my sermon. I do not know when I started praying this prayer. And I don’t remember forming these words intentionally. But they have become a regular part of my prayers. I do not pray this out of vain repetition. I pray this because I need the Lord to do the same thing for me every time I stand to preach. Whether I pray this...

I preached my first sermon at the age of eleven. The first thing I did when I stood up was to pray. No one instructed me to do this. My father never prayed when he stood to preach. And none of the preachers I heard regularly or looked up to prayed at the beginning of the sermons. For some reason, I did. I remember a seasoned pastor advising me, “If you haven’t prayed before you stand up to preach, it’s too late. And if you have already prayed, it’s not necessary.” I couldn’t argue with this logic. Yet I have...

This weekend was our Youth Explosion. Friday night, Kierra "KiKi" Sheard was in concert at Shiloh. Crystal and I enjoyed it more than the youth did! I woke up early Saturday morning in great pain. I went to the ER. The doctor asked me not to do anything for the rest of the weekend. I was stunned. It was the first time a doctor ever told me I should not preach. The medication she gave me put be down for the rest of the day. I missed 8 AM service. Thanks to D. Lewis for filling in. I was determined...

I was in the middle of a spectacular church fight. It was my first pastorate. I was barely 21. And I had reached my "Popeye" moment. "That's all I can stand, and I can't stands no more!" There were several out-of-town speaking engagements before me. I determined I would resign when I returned him home. I wanted to do something else. I wanted to get married. I wanted out of this foolish conflict with church people. I did not know what I would do next. When asked, I would say that I planned to become a talk show host. But...

I recently had dinner with several pastors. As we waited for our table, a friend and new pastor asked, “How do you find time for study?” As soon as he finished the question, the hostess seated us. But when we sat down, he asked again, “So how do you find time for study, H.B.?” I offered several answers that I hope were helpful. And we moved on to other topics. But the question stayed with me. Time-management is a big for busy pastors. Many people think that pastors don’t work. But pastors often work so hard that they don’t have...

We had a blessed day of worship at Shiloh yesterday. It was absolutely wonderful to be home with my congregation. There’s no place like home! We celebrated the Lord’s Supper today and welcomed our new members into the Shiloh family. It is always a special time. It was good to have our guests in worship with us. “There Is A Fountain” is my favorite Communion hymn. I worked for more than a week on Psalm 61. I was looking forward to preaching it this. It left me Saturday night. I look forward to preaching Psalm 61 at some point in...

The following quote is from Doug Wilson's book, Heaven Misplaced. I really enjoyed reading this book. I did not agree with many thing in it. But it did force me to think about what I believe. I believe this quote is a powerful statement about the operation of faith in the study of scripture: "We sometimes assume that sound exegesis of the Scriptures is a scientific operation, one in which a believer or an unbeliever - providing they know "the rules" - can come way with a right understanding of what the Bible is saying. Of course, there is an...

Almighty God, the help and defense of all them that fear thee, grant that we may securely live under the safeguard and protection of they well-beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Grant also that his kingdom, by thy great power, may prosper and be advanced daily more and more; and that we, being settled upon thy promises, may render unto thee the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving both now and forevermore. Amen. - Prayers on the Psalms (From the Scottish Psalter of 1595), pp. 82-82

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. - Lamentations 3:21-23 This weekend, we will celebrated 137 years of God's faithfulness to and through the Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Florida. It has been my privilege to serve this great congregation for more than three years now. I am grateful to lead a congregation with such a rich legacy and yet with great potential. God has been good to us. And the...